Her Mask (Shikamaru x Oc)

Chapter Thirty-Seven

Shingami took a moment before finding the words that she wanted to say. "He's... He was always there for me when I was younger when I was afraid or cold or lost or hurt. I could count on him even if we weren't together."

She took out one of Shikamaru's pieces at the price of her own.

"Then why didn't he come with you to the village?"

Shingami glanced at her mask before turning back to look into Shikamaru's dark eyes. "It was after our parents died, we went down two different paths."

She moved the king piece over one of Shikamaru's knights that got a little too close for her liking. He caught on and dropped the conversation as a whole.

"Oh," He quickly thought of a distraction. "Do you want to get some Raman after this game? We can come back and play another if you want."

Shingami smiled slightly and let go of her necklace trying her best to forget all of the memories that were brought up. "Sure, I'll pay."

"No, My treat. And don't argue with me, woman." The girl opened her mouth to disagree with him so he said it quickly to shut her up.

He stood up and held his hand out for her to take. Only after he'd helped her up and they'd walked out of the house did he realize how forward he had been making his face heat up.

When he looked to his side while Shingami was talking about how long it'd been since she had Ichiraku Raman apparently it's been a long time and that Naruto would probably be mortified over it.

He remembered that Shingami had left her mask back in the Shogi room willingly. He'd saw her go to reach for it but she drew her hand away before he helped her up.

He'd never seen her do that in all the time he'd known her. To others, it didn't seem like something too noticeable, but somehow it made him happy that she was comfortable around him.

When they got to the Raman stand they sat down on the stools and ordered talking about how their Shoji game was going so far.

__________________

Ibiki was enjoying the quietness of his office.

Nobody was there but him, two of the three stooges had gone home and the last of the three had yet to show her face in the office.

As far as Ibiki knew Shingami had done what she was supposed to do, and Genma and Anko were at their homes doing whatever it was they do.

But the man was kind of surprised that the girl hadn't come to see him right after he met with the Hokage which made him a little anxious since he really wanted to know what the outcome was.

There was a knock on the door he didn't sense Shingami's chakra which kind of disappointed him but he knew he'd see her at home.

"Enter."

Ibiki raised an eyebrow when he saw Tsunade standing in the doorway.

Her eyes were cold and hardened. "You neglected to mention that she was a little girl and that she was so forward with her abilities."

Ibiki blinked at the woman before setting down his pen. "I take it you met her." He said unhumorously

"How even old is she? I was expecting someone in their twenties by the way you described her." The woman scolded.

Ibiki sighed in the realization that the girl had left the Hokage with many unanswered questions. "She just turned twelve a couple of months ago. But she's no stranger to this life."

"How long?"

"Pardon?"

The woman sighed. "How long has she worked in your unit."

"Three years, I trust her and her judgment. She's never failed me."

Tsunade frowned, wondering why her sensei allowed something like this, it wasn't like they were in a time of war when it was necessary. The woman kept her thoughts to herself and glanced down at the work Ibiki was doing her eyes locked onto Shingami's name in the description on the interrogation summary.

"Is there anything that I need to know going forward?"

Ibiki glanced at the couch on the left side of the room remembering all the times she had fallen asleep there. "She doesn't trust you."

Tsunade looked at the man's blank face one last time before leaving, that was the one thing she needed to hear.

_______

Anko and Genma got bored and were roaming around the village aimlessly, trying to find something to do.

Their wandering had led to one very strange conversation to another until they heard a familiar giggle making them stop dead in their tracks and look at one another.

They looked in the direction that they thought it came from and masked their chakra while sneaking a little bit closer.

"How did he manage that?" Nara questioned amused by what the girl was saying.

"We decided that we were going to take a short cut and he wasn't paying attention and got stuck up to his neck in mud. I told him to stay in the trees but he didn't listen."

Genma's shoulders slumped when he remembered exactly what she was talking about, it was supposed to be a secret and it only happened one time.

"Clearly, I remember this time when my dad forgot about his anniversary. My mom had gotten all dressed up and got him a gift and everything, even let him sleep in that morning." The Nara said with an amused smirk while shaking his head. "I remember getting woken up to the sound of my mother yelling at my dad for forgetting such an important day in their relationship, what a drag, my dad used me as a distraction while he hurried to get flowers and some jewelry to appease her."

Shingami giggled again making Shikamaru blush at how cute it was.

"She must've gone on a rampage."

"It was a troublesome day and I ended up staying over Choji's house for the night just to get some sleep."

It got quiet for a moment before Shingami spoke up. "When I was younger my brother and I went on on a wild goose chase to scrape up enough money to get our mother a gift for her birthday. It was really bad we saved up 1058¥, we wanted to get her this pretty silver necklace but we didn't have enough for it."

Anko and Genma looked at each other not knowing what to say to each other, they had no idea. No Idea that Shingami had a brother. And they called themselves her friends.

"What did you do?"

"We ended up buying some wire and some plastic beads and put together a necklace for her but the necklace broke before we could give it to her and we didn't have extra wire so we managed to turn what was left of it into a bracelet."

The girl shook her head with a sad smile. "It was the ugliest thing, but it made her cry and it made her happy." The girl looked down. "She never took it off no matter how many of those cheap plastic beads broke off."

Shingami turned away from the Nara blinking away the wetness that was starting to form in her eyes.

"She sounds like a great person, Shingami," Shikamaru said putting his hand on her arm to show that he was there for her.

"She was." Shingami nodded. "Why don't we head back? I want to at least play one more game before I go home."

Anko and Genma disappeared before the pair walked down the street their minds running a mile a minute as they stared at each other wishing that they didn't eavesdrop for once in their lives.

New story out: Red (Kankuro x OC)